Essay about Leukemia and Its Treatment

I chose to write an essay about the “Topic of Cancer” by Christopher Hitchens. In this short autobiographical essay, Hitchens discusses his experience with Esophageal cancer. Just one day after lanching his book “Hitch-22” Hitchens was made aware of his illness, where he later describes the news as “taking me from the country of well, to the stark frontier.” It was then he chose to write about his experience for the purpose of documenting the changes that he, and his body were about to go through with chemotherapy, and also for the purpose of contemplating his current situation. The reason that I chose this story is because of my own personal experiences that I have had with many loved ones in my life. There is one case in particular that stands out in my memory, among the rest. It was when my friend of many years discovered that he had a very rare form of brain cancer. Soon after undergoing chemotherapy, he lost his battle. There are many people that believe chemotherapy at any stage is the best, and often times, the only way to cure cancer, yet others claim that chemotherapy is not the answer at all. A close analysis of recent statistics can settle this debate.

The human body is complex. There are many different systems and organs all working together at the same time without you even realizing. Things like cancer want to disrupt your body and how it works, but with today’s medical technology there is treatment for most cancers; leukemia in particular. “Leukemia is an abnormal rise in the number of white blood cells. The white blood cells crowd out other blood cell elements such as red blood cells and platelets. The elevated white blood cells are immature and do not function properly” (Movva). Leukemia interests me, because one day I plan on working in the medical field with children, but it has also played a major factor in my life over the past three years, continues to affect how I will live the

Leukemia is a type of cancer that has affected individuals for many years. The term Leukemia comes from the greek words white and blood. Many people believe that it many affects children but it also affects adults. Although Leukemia has been found in other genders and races, it is more common for caucasians males to have it then any others. Leukemia effects the human body by creating an excessive amount of white cells in the bone marrow.

Chemotherapy, Radiation therapy, stem cell transplant, and targeted drug therapy are all forms of treatment for ALL. Chemotherapy is typically used as induction therapy for kids and adults. Chemotherapy can also be used in consolidation and maintenance therapies. Chemotherapy is given in a variety of ways. It can be given orally as a pill or liquid. It can be given intravenously by infusion into a vein. A cream on the skin can be given. Chemotherapy can also be given by direct placement either via lumbar puncture or a device placed just under the scalp. Radiation therapy uses high-powered beams, such as x-rays, to kill the cancer cells. Radiation therapy is usually recommended when the cancer has spread to the central nervous

Acute myeloid leukemia is a cancer of the immature myeloblast in the bone marrow that produce myelocytes. Common symptoms include persistant fatigue, fever, bleeding and bruising. Inside the hollow area of the bones there is a spongy core area called bone marrow, it is here that stem cells are produced. Stem cells are immature cells that can develop into the components of the blood ( red blood cells which carry oxygen to the body, white blood cells which fight infection and platelets which help blood to clot) Acute leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. In healthy patients stem cells produce myoblast or blast, that develop into mature types of white blood cells, in leukemia patients these blasts do not develop into mature healthy

A child that develop Leukemia produces a large amount of immature white blood cells called blasts (“KidsMD”). Usually when a person has healthy cells the body sends a signal out that there is not enough room for any more, however, when blasts are produced they do not respond to the signal that the body sends out. Therefore the blasts push out all the healthy cells in the bone marrow causing symptoms of Leukemia

They are many different diseases and cancers is all around us. Its amazing how some people do not know what cancer really is. Well cancer is a term that is used for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control . There are more than 100 different types of cancer. Most cancers are named for the organ that is infected or the type of cell that starts with. For that matter one of the most less common but also deadliest disease is leukemia. Leukemia is a cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow, that is the spongy center of the bones where our blood cells are formed and this develops when blood cells reproduce in the bone marrow grow without having a control of reproduction.

Leukemia in the Western countries is the most common childhood cancer and is most common in children under the age of 10. On the other hand, in India, have a much lower rate of childhood leukemia. Scientists now believe they have discovered the reason behind.

Leukemia is the cancer of white blood cells and acute leukemia is when the white blood cell is affected by cancer. There are two types of white blood cells: Lymphocytes and Neutrophils (teachers notes). Only 9300 people are diagnosed with it every year in the UK. Of those 9300, 2942 people have acute leukemia, showing it’s very rare. The risk of developing leukemia increases with age and is most common with people over 70 years old (cancerresearch.com, 2016).

The fight against cancer has taken a strange twist for the good. Leukemia is a cancer of the body and the surrounding tissues, which includes the lymphatic system and the bone marrow. There are many types of leukemia. Most forms are more common in children than adults. This is a devastating and cruel disease, that takes the lives of men, women and children. Thousands are diagnosed each year with this unforgiving disease.

"Cancer changes your life, often for the better. You learn what's important, you learn to prioritize, and you learn not to waste your time. You tell people you love them” (Siegel 1). When cancer hits, it hits hard. It does not give a break, it does not give a day off. It takes a special sort of person to beat this growing disease. Leukemia is perhaps the worst of all cancers to date. It is especially affecting children more and more in today’s society. One might ask how could a parent that loves their child with their entire heart could cope with seeing their child go through so much suffering? How could they even begin to cope with this? Leukemia is the leading cause of death by disease in children and young adults between the ages 0-20

This defect causes the blood cells to grow and divide relentlessly. Healthy blood cells die off after a time period and are substituted by new cells, which is produced in bone marrow. When the rare blood cells do not die when they are supposed to, they accumulate, taking up more space. As more leukemia cells are made, they disrupt the normal function and growth of healthy white blood cells by taking over the space in the blood. Subsequently, the bad cells swarm out the good, productive cells in the blood. (medical news today.com) So in order to prevent the slightest probability of this one day happening to any individual, steps can be taken to reduce this risk and it starts with everyday life occurings. If an individual smokes, it increases their risk of developing abnormal cancer cells by 30%, that is approximately three thousand and six hundred diagnoses’ each year in the United States. Smoking does no good and if you do not want the potential risk of cancer people should really look more into it before they light up. As most people get older they become more aware of how their body functions, but some do not and they go in for checkups at the doctor's’ office. When doctors check the patient's out, they can spot potential signs, symptoms of any cancer and even maybe prevent it. Cancer can sometimes be undetectable and by going to that check up, it can

According to the Leukemia Society & Lymphoma Society, leukemia “is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow, the spongy center of bones where our blood cells are formed. The disease develops when blood cells produced in the bone marrow grow out of control.” Leukemia typically begins in the white blood cells which serve as potent infection fighters ("Leukemia"). However, when people have leukemia, this part of the immune system doesn’t work properly. The white blood cells are considered abnormal and therefore do not serve, grow and divide when the body needs them. “The abnormal blood cells do not die so easily, and accumulate, occupying more and more space. Quite simply, the bad cells crowd out the good cells in the blood” ("What Is Leukemia? What Causes Leukemia?"). Leukemias are named for how quickly the disease develops. Acute leukemias develop quickly and rapidly; patients will feel symptoms. Chronic leukemias have cells that work almost as well as regular white cells, therefore it develops slowly and they may not experience symptoms ("What You Need To Know About™ Leukemia"). While there are many types of leukemia there are four most common types which include: acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) ("Disease Information & Support"). Depending on the form of leukemia, it can affect both children and adults. Some forms are more common in children

“You have to realize that every well person is a miracle, it takes billions of cells to make up a person, and it will only take one cell to be bad to destroy the whole person”, this quote is from Barbara Bush from one of her past interviews about a daughter she lost with leukemia (Cunningham, 1988). This quote reminded me five years ago, when my niece was diagnosed with leukemia. She does not only have one bad cell inside her body but she has extra 330,000 counts of white blood cells that are not normal. It was summer of year 2008 when my niece who is freshmen in high school was diagnosed with leukemia or cancer of the blood. Leukemia is a cancer that starts in the tissue that forms blood and

has been shown to be a factor in the incidences of leukemia and sometimes it is